Bernard Black, a leading senior figure in corporate law and finance at the University of Texas School of Law, and Kate Litvak, also a specialist in corporate law and finance who is Assistant Professor of Law at Texas, have both accepted senior offers with tenure from Northwestern University. Black will start in fall 2010, and hold a joint appointment with Northwestern's Law School and the Kellogg School of Business; Litvak will start at Northwestern's Law School this fall, and will simultaneously pursue a PhD in finance at Kellogg. Before moving to Texas, Black held tenured posts at Stanford Law School and Columbia Law School.

As part of the appointments committee that enthusiastically recruited Black and Litvak to Texas about five years ago, I know Bernie and Kate well and think this is an outstanding appointment for Northwestern. Northwestern strikes back, as it were!